growing belly

 

This was taken a month ago. And this was from last week:

Big Fish

One of my favorite movies.

Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson - Winter Song

I think this is the most lovely song. I remember listening to it a lot in the winter of 2008, right after my grandmom passed. Enjoy!

teeny tiny squishy little M

I came across these pictures that I had forgotten all about. I had enlisted the help of my sister in law to take some pictures of a then squishy little M and myself as part of a photo project for my husband's birthday gift. I think he was almost two months old. These pictures are so special to me. It also gave me the motivation to color my hair back to red, something I've been wanting to do for awhile now but the truth is I work in a hair salon and hate getting my hair done. Maybe one of these days I'll find the time.

pinterest obsessed

The amazingness that is pinterest is no secret. It's such a time sucker! I will have so much to do and then find myself on there pinning everything and before I know it an hour has gone by. There are so many great diy ideas that my head spins. I have a million different projects planned, now if only I could get off there for a minute so I can actually accomplish them.
Here are a few of my favorites lately:

 

 

 

tree skirt DIY

silhouette ornament

DIY magnet board

diy bubblegum machine

Christmas trees

 

 

 

 

paint the inside of vases

it's true what they say...

White people really can't dance. Just kidding. This is crazy M "dancing", or more accurately described as spinning in circles until he gets dizzy. It's his favorite thing to do whenever the song from barney comes on, and just recently he has started to do it anytime this guitar plays beats. 

Tips on staying organized

If you are like me, it seems as though there are never enough hours in the day. I constantly struggle with this. I always have a million things on my to-do list, so many projects floating around in my head, and I often times I feel as though I can't keep up with the housework. It makes me feel defeated, overwhelmed, and just plain stressed. When I find myself like this it's as though I'm living in chaos and that makes me crazy.

Something I've learned to do lately to feel in control is to write everything in a planner. I start my weeks on Sunday. First and foremost I've been meal planning which saves me money, and leaves the guesswork out of what will be for dinner each night. I'll usually look up recipes online (pinterest, pinterest, pinterest!) and then make a list of what is for dinner each night. From there I do a little inventory of my cupboards to see what I already have, and what I can utilize or even substitute in the recipes I've chosen for this week. Then I make out my grocery list, and write everything down for each day.

I also have taken more of an organized approach to paying bills. Taken from this, which I found on pinterest, I've started writing when bills are due each month on the printed calender, and every Sunday I sit down and write them out. I realize a lot of people probably already do this, I can't really believe I've gone so long without a system like this. I would always have bills scattered all over the table, and even though they have always been paid on time, this is a much better system I think.

The next thing I've been doing is writing out a schdule, per say. I often feel like I'm behind on all of the housework and I feel like I can never catch up. It builds up and I feel stressed and crazy and just not in a good place. I've found that if I stick to getting at least one thing done a day, I can keep on track. So for example, Monday I will focus on cleaning the bathrooms, Tuesday the kitchen, etc. I also write down a list of any projects I need to get done and try to focus on one at at time with those as well. I know this probably makes me crazy OCD, but I feel like it's really helped for me to stay in control.

Do you have any tips or tricks to staying organized? I'd love to hear them!